A 'HOLI' RANT

This year, I was pleasantly surprised that one of the biggest annual kerfuffles of Advent kinda slipped by this year, at least according to the traffic I saw on Facebook and in other news sources during the last 23 days. It is a kerfuffle that good, well-meaning church folk of all stripes get caught up in intentionally and unintentionally. Given the attitudes of many as reflected in the past, it is something that actually runs COUNTER to the intended message of the campaign.

I am, of course, speaking of the absolutely incendiary graphic you see at the left of the opening paragraph of this column...

Yes, dear friends, I am speaking, of course, of the 'Happy Holidays/Season's Greetings' kerfuffle that, if unchecked, will, eventually, drive Christmas straight out of society and knock us back to the stone age with no hope, no peace, no joy, and no love.

As if...

Actually (and I hope you don't think any less of me for this) I find the idea of 'Happy Holidays' to be, in some ways, a bigger challenge than, 'Merry Christmas.'

'Why is this?' you might be led to ask...After all, 'I don't care what the corporate policies of ______________ or the town statutes of ________________ may be, THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING TO ALLOW THEM TO ROB ME OF WISHING PEOPLE MERRY CHRISTMAS (harrumph!)'

I would like to encourage any who may find their blood boiling or their dander rising to take a moment to dismount the ol' high horse and spend a minute pondering the following from our friends at Mirriam Webster:

Holiday: Middle English, from Old English hāligdæg, from hālig holy +dæg day.

Hmmmm...wishing someone a Happy Holy Day.

Me thinks that might actually be what many of us might need to hear as we go about the hustle and bustle of the pre-Christmas frenzy that so often permeates our lives during those weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In this annual time, maybe we ought to think long and hard about the idea of whether or not we are going to have a 'Holy Day' or simply another year of sappy sentimentality where we think of the birth of Christ at a Christmas Eve service then don't really give it another thought on the actual day of Christmas.

All this to say, maybe instead of looking agh the phrase 'Happy Holidays' as a threat to all things sacred in the world, and instead of looking at the phrase 'Happy Holidays' as a nefarious plot to rid the world of Christmas, maybe we ought to instead look at 'Happy Holidays' as a challenge to, indeed, look at Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany as 'Holy Days,' realizing that, indeed, to look at them as anything other than 'Holy Days' is truly to miss the point.

I look forward to greeting you and yours tomorrow night as we once again gather in celebration and remembrance of the hours just before Christ entered the world, and everything changed for time immortal. Through the events of that Holy Day, the Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love that we have celebrated during the four Sundays of Advent manifested themselves in the baby boy whose mere presence in the world said that, indeed, it is possible to be people of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

May God's Richest Blessings be with You Today and Always, Lamar